Winter 2017

(Above photo by George Kubas)

Sixth PL championship for men’s soccer

The men’s soccer team earned a 5–4 penalty shootout win against American University to claim the 2016 Patriot League Championship in November. It was the sixth championship win in the program’s history and the first since 2011.

The Raiders and top-seeded Eagles played to a 1–1 double-overtime draw before the game was sent into a penalty kick shootout. American made its first four penalty kicks and had the chance to claim the title, but Ricky Brown ’17 stepped up with back-to-back saves to clinch the championship for the Raiders.

Ethan Kutler ’17 scored Colgate’s goal on a penalty kick in the 56th minute. It marked Kutler’s fifth goal of the postseason, setting a Patriot League Tournament record for goals scored by a player. The Lansing, N.Y., native was named tournament MVP. Kutler was joined on the Patriot League All-Tournament Team by Brown, Zach Tamen ’17, and Jared Stroud ’18.

“We were absorbing some pressure from American early in the game, and our guys were fighting and battling and never stopped working or believing,” head coach Erik Ronning said. “Seeing those guys fight for each other was absolutely amazing.”

“This was redemption week for us,” Kutler said. “We lost to Army, Loyola, and American in the regular season and came back and won all three games in the tournament. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this team.”

The Raiders continued on to the NCAA Tournament, but fell to UCLA (4–2), concluding a historic season with a 13-7-2 finish.


Raiders in NCAA elite for graduation success rate

Women's hockey playing against Harvard.

Women’s hockey skated to a 3–3 overtime draw with Harvard on December 3. At press time, the Raiders were ranked #7 in the national polls. (Photo by Bob Cornell)

Colgate student-athletes maintained their lofty position at third in the latest NCAA Division I Graduation Success Rate (GSR). For the fifth-straight year, the Raiders are at 98 percent, placing Colgate alongside peer schools Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Davidson, Notre Dame, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.

“Our student-athletes are proof that you can compete at the highest level of athletics while excelling in the classroom at a world-class institution,” said Vice President and Director of Athletics Victoria M. Chun ’91, MA’94.

Colgate recorded 100 percent graduation success rates in 22 of its 24 NCAA-sponsored teams.

The NCAA’s GSR includes transfer students and student-athletes who leave in good academic standing; it measures graduation over six years from first-time college enrollment.


Miller ’12 named to Israeli lacrosse team

Courtney Miller ’12 runs with the ball by a defender in a lacrosse game at Colgate.

Courtney Miller ’12 during her Raider days.

Come July, Courtney Miller ’12, a standout in Colgate women’s lacrosse history, will compete on Israel’s Women’s Lacrosse National Team for the Federation of International Lacrosse World Cup at the University of Surrey in England.

“Courtney making the Israel National Team shows what a great athlete she is,” said Heather Young, Colgate women’s lacrosse head coach. “She is a dominant midfielder making big contributions and uses her speed in transition.”

A native of Tel Aviv, Miller tried out in Be’er Sheva, Israel, last summer. Each player will play in honor of a charity of her choice in conjunction with the Israel Lacrosse Tzedekah Program; Miller will play for the Friends of Israel Defense Force.

Named the Patriot League Midfielder of the Year in 2012 and a four-time All-Patriot League First Team selection, Miller was a three-time Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Second Team All-Region selection. In 2012, she was also one of just 10 players in program history to compete in the North-South Senior All-Star game.

Miller ranks in the top 10 in program history in numerous categories, including a 76-point senior season that ranks sixth in program history. She scored 59 goals that season, the fifth most in a single season, while her 36 assists as a junior rank as the second most in a season. In her career, Miller is the all-time leader in draw controls with 201. She also ranks third in program history with 241 points and 168 goals, while her 73 career assists are fourth.


Gold-medal visit

Olympic gold medalist Lauren Schmetterling '10 talking with ESPN anchor David Lloyd '83 at a visit to Colgate

“I knew that, if I was my best self, I could make it.” — Olympic gold medalist Lauren Schmetterling ’10 told ESPN anchor David Lloyd ’83

ESPN anchor David Lloyd ’83 interviewed Olympic gold medalist Lauren Schmetterling ’10 in Memorial Chapel during a family weekend event sponsored by the Presidents’ Club.

Schmetterling, who rowed with the USA Women’s Eight crew in Rio last summer, is the first student-athlete from Colgate — and the entire Patriot League — to win Olympic gold. On her triumphant return to the Chenango Valley, she spent the day meeting with a number of the university’s athletics teams before sitting down with Lloyd to discuss her Olympic success.

Lloyd led Schmetterling back to the beginning, to those first moments when she grabbed an oar as a high school first-year. “I remember feeling very confused — I didn’t know what to do with my hands,” she said.

She clearly figured it out and was part of women’s rowing for four years at Colgate. After meeting with national team coaches her senior year, she made it her ambition to make the under-23 national team. But although Schmetterling would earn an invitation to training camp after graduation, the effort ultimately failed. “That encouraged me to keep going and double down on my training,” she said. “I felt that if I put in more work than anyone else, that was going to get me where I wanted to go.”

By 2013, after regularly evaluating her development and questioning her goals, she made the team, beating out 16 women on the 30-member squad for a place in the 2016 Olympic boat. “You have to have a strong relationship with your teammates,” she said. “You have to work with them to make the fastest boat, even though the next day, you might not be rowing with them.”

In the chapel, with the Olympic race projected on a screen behind her, Schmetterling walked the audience through the heat. Water conditions in Rio were some of the worst she’d ever seen. The team held third place through most of the race, pulling ahead in the final lengths by favoring a strategy of mid-race strength over initial sprints. “Our coxswain made the call, ‘We are the U.S. Women’s eight,’ and I feel like that pushed everyone to move together,” she said. “The boat was 10 years undefeated. When she made that call, I felt like I needed to do a service to all the women who had come before me.”

The gold medal justified the years she had dedicated to her sport. “I knew that, if I was my best self, I could make it,” she said. “It took a lot of work to get to that point, and I felt like everything I had done had been validated.”

But that validation won’t secure Schmetterling a seat on the boat during the next Olympic games. To earn that honor, she’ll once again need to prove her strength through action. “I feel like there’s always somewhere new you can go,” she said. “You can always make improvements. I feel like everyone — no matter where they are — can be pushing for more.”

Watch the conversation at colgate.edu/schmetterling.


100th career win for Coach Young

Portrait of women's lacrosse head coach Heather Young.

Women’s lacrosse head coach Heather Young was honored for achieving her 100th career win during the 2016 season at the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Honors Banquet.

Young, who will begin her 11th season at Colgate with the start of the 2017 season, was one of 12 head coaches earning Victory Club recognition, which honors those who achieved milestone victories during the 2016 season.

Young’s 100th career win was a 13–11 victory at Binghamton on April 12. The win also propelled Young into winningest coach in program history as she picked up her 83rd win at Colgate in the game. By the conclusion of the 2016 season, Young had 106 career wins, with 87 of them coming at Colgate, along with a 49–31 record in Patriot League play over that span.